Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. June 15. 112 th day of the war

Today is Wednesday 15 June 2022 and Ukraine is already experiencing 112 days of this bloody full-scale war waged by Russia against the Ukrainian people.

Again, this morning we thank the Lord God and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for seeing the light of day, for being able to survive until this day and through this last night. Unfortunately, many people died in Ukraine. Again, according to reports we receive from various government agencies, about 100 servicemen die every day. And no one still knows how many civilians die every day, but their number is probably higher.

The legendary city of Sievierodonetsk in the Luhansk region is holding heroically, and it is becoming a city of heroes, a city of martyrs. Once an administrative center of the Luhansk region with a population of 100,000, today it is the epicentre of a huge confrontation. Russian troops are 10 times more numerous than the Ukrainian military presence there. But our soldiers are bravely defending this city, defending this piece of Ukrainian Luhansk region.

Fighting and active hostilities are taking place around the perimeter of the front line, from the Kharkiv region to the Kherson region in the South.

But Ukraine is standing. Ukraine is fighting.

Nevertheless, the enemy is trying to intimidate us. Yesterday, even the missile strikes wounded the western regions of Ukraine—in the Lviv, Ternopil, and Khmelnytsky regions. But Ukraine is successfully defending itself, which amazes the world.

This week, in our tradition, we are now experiencing a special week of Pentecost. Every day we sing the praises again and again of the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, Who once descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, but is present and alive today in the body of our Church.

Yesterday we began to reflect with you on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the special gifts that the Holy Spirit brings with Him and with which He endows people. Yesterday we reflected on the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is wisdom. And today, let's think about another gift called reason. Obviously, in the Ukrainian language the word “reason" has many different meanings. But reason, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, is a special ability of the human person to penetrate into the depths of reality. This is a person's ability to distinguish between the causes and consequences of various events and phenomena and to truly understand the causes of all things, and through them to contemplate the first cause of all that exists, lives, and moves—and this first cause is our God and Saviour.

The gift of reason from the Holy Spirit is so necessary in today's world so that the devil's wiles do not deceive the human person. Because we live in a world of fakes, when what is desired is presented as real; when they try to pretend untruth and falsehood to be the only truth, and it is so important that today, with the help of this special gift of the Holy Spirit, we do not succumb to this apparent fog that the tempter wants to inspire in us, so that they could delve into reality and understand and know it correctly. This gift of the Holy Spirit is so necessary for those who have special responsibilities, special types of service in the Church, society, and state.

I think that the gift of the Holy Spirit's reason is so necessary today for those who are trying to understand the causes and consequences of this full-scale Russian aggression. Because we see that today the whole world is trying to deceive, to pretend that what is desired is real. We see and know, experiencing here in Ukraine, that Russia's aggression against Ukraine is completely unprovoked. Anyone who thinks that some external cause has provoked Russia into military aggression is either themselves in the grip of Russian propaganda or is simply and deliberately deceiving the world.

Unfortunately, unfortunately, this part of post-Soviet space, which is now in the territory of the Russian Federation, has deep flaws and diseases still since Soviet times. This post-Soviet revanchism, which has emerged in a new guise today in such extreme Russian nationalism has clearly acquired genocidal features as the ideology of russkiy mir (“the Russian world"). And Ukraine is its first victim.

That is why it is so important today to understand the causes and consequences of this war. Unfortunately, the causes of this war lie within Russia itself, inside it. And the Russian aggressor is trying to solve its internal problems with the help of external aggression. He projects his illnesses onto others and blames the whole world for them.

That is why today we are praying for the Gift of the Holy Spirit for politicians, diplomats, church and religious figures. For the Lord God to give them this gift of reason, the ability to distinguish between causes and effects, the ability to see the depth of reality. And to distinguish truth from inspired lies and falsehoods.

O God, make us wise! O God, bless Ukraine with the gift of Your Holy Spirit! Bless the Ukrainian people. Make us bearers of Your deliverance of the Spirit of Truth. Give our homeland peace!

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you through His grace and love of humankind, always, now and ever, and for ages of ages. Amen. 

Glory to Jesus Christ!